As ruthless Alderman Ronin Gibbons — great name, by the way — the imposing character actor mixes equal parts charisma, charm and menace. Lindo hasn't been this mesmerizing on screen since his indelible portrait of avuncular but deadly drug dealer Rodney Little in Spike Lee's underrated 1995 inner-city drama Clockers. (He was also terrific as two very different kinds of father figures in Lee's Crooklyn and Malcolm X.)

As Fox's cop drama has progressed through its rookie season, Gibbons has emerged as a character as complicated as Chicago politics itself. At first he seemed like a straight-up crook, but Det. Wysocki (the kinetic Jason Clarke) and Superintendent Colvin (Jennifer Beals, who's settling into her role nicely) have learned they'll need to work with Gibbons in order to clean up the city. Mayor-elect Rahm Emanuel had better watch his back!